Rookies and Ramblings

Just some musings while watching tonight’s Cardinals-Phillies game on the big screen in the man-cave . . .

Last year, prior to Opening Day, I was drooling all over myself with the prospects of having two bona fide Rookie of the Year candidates. Everyone had their eyes on Colby Rasmus, but I had my eye on our new closer Jason Motte. Well, he blew a save against the Pirates on Opening Day 2009, and quicker than you could blink, Ryan Franklin and his bushy squirrel-tail beard was the Cardinals closer. Oh well, you can’t be right all the time. I say all this because this year, I’m doing it all over again. I’m watching Jaime (pronounced Hi-me) Garcia and David Freese and I’m in awe at how easy they’re making it look. Yes, I realize there is a big right field slugger in Atlanta who might have something to say about this year’s top rookie award, but I’ll take our two guys.

Speaking of Freese, congratulations to him on earning the NL Player of the Week award for last week. Did it go to his head tonight? Of course not, he went 2-for-5 with another bases clearing double and 3 more RBIs. He’s batting .363 with 19 RBIs!

And what about Garcia? 6 innings pitched, with only 1 run allowed to the best lineup in the National League. And those two studs in the middle of the Phillies batting order, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, went 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts against Jaime. His ERA stands at 1.12, which is a pretty cool ERA for old time Cardinal fans. If you don’t recognize that number, it is the all-time best ERA for a starting pitcher for a season. Two words: Bob Gibson. (No, I’m not comparing Garcia to my all-time favorite Cardinal. I just like that 1.12 number.)

The batting order is heating up. To wit, . . .

Rasmus had four good at bats tonight, which was good to see after he struggled on the home stand. He drove the ball into center field in the second inning for a sacrifice fly after Matt Holiday doubled. Then in the fourth, he drove a double to the base of the right field wall. Then another solid single in the sixth, followed by a bloop hit to the opposite field in the 7th. It seems that both Rasmus and Holiday are going to be road warriors this year. They struggle at home, but when they get into enemy territory, they light up the scoreboard.

Since moving to the 9th spot in the batting order, Brendan Ryan is 7 for 20. He’s raised his batting average from .158 to .208 in those 7 games. . . . and he was safe at third!

Nick-the-Stick Stavinoha with the Happy Birthday pinch-hit home run!

Albert Pujols now has an 8 game hitting streak. Freese ran his hit streak to 7 games.

Well, if the Phillies and Cardinals both hold serve in their division and make it to the NLCS series this fall, it will be worth the wait. These are good teams, and that was a good baseball game to watch. Good pitching, good defense, lots of close plays, an instant replay on an almost-home-run, an interference call at first base, an ejection of Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, 14 hits by the Redbirds, a fan got tasered, and ultimately, we got a 6-3 Cardinals victory.

18-8. 10 games over .500. A 5-game lead in the division. And the magic number is down to 132. Sweet.